saoreads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It's bizarre yet the world building and descriptions used to convey the story are inclined metaphorically to have its realistic aspects, though too much can be a bit distracting and makes readers lose focus even though it's a short novel. The chief seemed like some kind of a cult master, though it was small-scaled in a sense, as the factor was—he was an avid reader, even at the age of thirteen. It was the kind of character honed that could attract and entice people with its persuasiveness or it may have been in career-orientation like a lawyer because you knew too much at some point, you played around with the law, but once again, small-scaled. It was horrifying to read. It took advantage of how adults see children—purely innocent and in this I don't know if it had a bit of that.

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nabila99's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

i'm normally someone who loves lots of descriptions and setting detailed scenes - but this book had way, way too much of it. cut out the (very repetitive) descriptions of the sea, sky and ships and 1/3 of the book would be gone. also, i know the central theme is sailing / the sea / ships, but a totally excessive amount of nautical jargon is used, to the point that it's very frustrating and impossible to research every single one.

otherwise, it has some beautiful prose and a dark, intriguing story, but the above issues made it difficult to stay engaged and a bit of a slog at times. the character of fusako was also underdeveloped and underutilised.

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epellicci's review

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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sandqueen's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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margaridamorgado's review

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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halceeeeeeeee's review

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dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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givemesomerope's review

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dark reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A story about a pretentious pre-pubescent boy and his fellow pretentious pre-pubescent friends. They read “Beyond Good and Evil” once and now believe they are the ultimate moral arbiters.

In all seriousness, this was an interesting book that covered multiple perspectives and offered great character insight into a nihilistic and angsty 13 year old boy, a grieving and newly fell in love widow, and a dispassionate sailor and their stories intertwist and build off of one another. I found it hard to get into the book at first, as barely anything was happening. After 30 pages, however, I began to enjoy the blend of incredible metaphors that fill up every page along with dialogue and followed with plot development. I mention again Mishima’s metaphors— they are everywhere and they are beautiful. He writes his descriptions in such intricate and raw detail, I could perfectly visualize the entire novel and it was all just jaw-dropping.

Overall, a thought provoking piece and I look forward to reading more of Yukio Mishima. This is my second book I’ve read by him and so far he hasn’t dissapointed 



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noahhare's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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lap1n's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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fruitysaz's review

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

you know what? i actually don’t care that this was well written. at all. the merits of the writing absolutely do noT make up for the sheer amount of misogyny, how contrived and sinister some of the characters came across, and how? gruesome it was? i understand the points it tried to make, and i appreciate how sometimes stories about disturbing people have to be told. but honestly? there are far better ways to tell them than this. 

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